Final Result: GW’s late rally falls short in 60-55 defeat to Fordham.

Robertson was back in the starting lineup again and GW and Fordham began the game feeling each other out. Neither was particularly effective on offense, but the Rams passing game inside was better and a couple of easy baskets put them ahead 9-8 early on. GW’s 3 early turnovers were on bad passes that were unforced, negating scoring opportunities after defensive stops. Things didn’t get better for GW as their out-of-control offense had more costly turnovers that allowed Fordham to take a 16-10 lead at the end of the quarter. Things didn’t improve to start the second quarter, but the offense settled down and managed to cut the lead 20-18 going into the media timeout after a clutch 3-pointer by Webster. GW managed to cut the lead to a single point with the half running down, but within a 14 second span, a fluke and-1 by Fordham and a costly turnover leading to a period ending 3-pointer let the Rams go into the half with a 31-24 lead. The key statistics of the half – Fordham wins 17-2 on points off turnovers and 15-5 on second chance points after getting 13 offensive rebounds (to GW’s 3). Fordham took 20 more attempts than GW in the 1st half. GW’s duo of Robertson and Lok finished with 6 points each, while Donaldson and Hayford led the way for Fordham with 7 and 8 points respectively. Fordham pulled ahead in the 3rd on the strength of more offensive rebounds, 42-31. After a lot of ineffective offense by both sides, a big 3-pointer by Engel cut the Rams’ lead to 44-36 to end the 3rd quarter. After a slow start to the 4th, GW warmed up and cut the lead to 51-48 thanks to 3’s by Robertson and Engel. A Robertson spurt led GW to a 55-55 tie, but in the waning seconds, after Fordham took a 2-point lead, GW had 3 opportunities to tie the game but could not get a single shot off, and allowed the Rams to finish the game at the free throw line for the win. Robertson had 19 points, followed by 9 points from Engel. The Donaldson/Hayford combo finished with 34 points between them.

The 4th quarter comeback should not have been necessary, but even after ceding the 1st 3 quarters, the Revs gave themselves a chance. For the game, GW just allowed too many offensive rebounds, resulting in a 19-9 deficit in second chance points. Time after time, GW’s defense would force Fordham into bad shots, only to let the rebounds get away to give the Rams more opportunities—this was the difference in the game. In the final seconds, when GW had a chance to even the score, the first attempt ended up in an illegal screen on the inbounds pass; the second halted by a traveling violation; and the final one resulted in a technical foul for calling a timeout GW didn’t have. So, 3 chances to tie, without a shot being taken—that is how this season has gone. Where was our coaching staff? Kudos to the team for fighting back, but for the first 3 quarters, Fordham, who is clearly a bad offensive team, wanted this game more, and that was when the game was won.

This was a bad loss. Our next opponent, URI, is one of the top teams in the A10 and will create matchup nightmares for GW, especially in the front court. Going 1-8 in the conference seems very likely.

Time to start thinking about a coaching change.  Can't afford a coach who doesn't realize the winner of the game is the one with the most points at the end of the game.